[3] To date, it has had seventeen baronets since its inception, beginning with Sir Thomas Nightingale (d. 1645) who was appointed the High Sheriff of Essex in 1627.

The fourth baronet, Sir Robert Nightingale (d. 1722), was a director, and eventually chairman, of the Honourable East India Company in London, England.

However, the estate was inherited by his younger cousin, Joseph Gascoigne, who adopted the name and coat of arms of the family, but not the title.

After ending his time as a Member of Parliament, Joseph later moved to Mamhead House in Devon for respite and recovery, but died in July 1752.

The sculpture is seen depicting a skeleton, representing death, emerging from his prison to aim a deadly dart at Elizabeth, who is being protected by her husband.

His grandson, Sir Henry Dickonson Nightingale (13th Baronet) was a lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Marines who served during the Second Anglo-Burmese War, from 1851 to 1852.

His son, Sir Edward Manners Nightingale (14th Baronet), was also a captain in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps during World War I, for which he received two medals for valor and honor.

[3] [7] The Nightingale name stems from both Viking and Norman ancestry, as documented in the Doomsday Book created by William I of England.

[3] The title is currently listed in Burke's Peerage, a genealogical report on the ancestry and heraldry of the aristocracy class in Great Britain.

[15][16] All matters concerning lineage, granting and regulation of the baronetage are managed and controlled by the Ministry of Justice, via the College of Arms in London, England.